Dementia Cases Will Triple By 2050, Report

Currently, about 47 million people in the world suffer from dementia, which is a significant rise from 35 million in 2009, say scientists, according to hngn.

The World Alzheimer Report 2015, published by Alzheimer's Disease International and King's College London, said that unless there is a significant discovery to defeat it, the patients of dementia will shoot up to 132 million by 2050 and then double every 20 years.

The illness, dementia, refers to "progressive, degenerative brain diseases" that tend to bring down cognitive functions, such as the ability to think and store in memory.

The most common form of the illness is Alzheimer's, which accounts for more than half the cases. There is no known cure for the disease.

About 58 percent of patients of dementia live in developing countries, and by 2050, half of that percentage are expected to be Asians, says the report. Even as the global population ages, the number of people with dementia is also expected to increase.

The report explains that even now, there are about 900 million people who are 60 or above that. Over the next 35 years, in rich countries, that age group will increase by 65 percent, although in lower-middle income nations, it will grow 185 percent, and 239 percent in poor countries.

While less than four out of every 1,000 between 60 and 64 suffers from dementia, after 90 years, that number shoots to 105 out of every 1,000 people.

"Population ageing alone drives the projected increases," according to yahoo.

By this year, about 10 million new cases that are expected to be added will develop, one every few seconds and almost 30 percent more than in 2010. The cost of treating the disease has risen by more than 35 percent over the past five years to $818 billion. Experts say the costs are expected to reach $1 trillion in only three years.